Matt Cavanaugh wrote: ↑
Speaking noise-signal ratios, I just discovered I have Apophenia. Or rather, I discovered it's a thing with a name, and I'm not out of my fucking mind. Anyhoo, I hear faint songs when it's raining hard or the swamp cooler is running. I can make out the tunes and almost the lyrics. I've recorded me whistling what I hear and they aren't half bad. Except the other day when I got stuck listening to this phantom crappy young country station.

Okay, may need to reconsider the not-out-of-my-mind claim.

I have Afrophenia.

Day & night, I mistakenly think I hear 'music' coming from the cars of black people buying drugs downstairs.
But, when I try to discern what I'm hearing, it's not music at all! Merely a hideous background noise.

I could close my window & turn-on the air conditioner-- but then the Apophenia starts.
A-pop-henia... hip-hop-hernia... let's call the whole thing off

Just finished watching it with the missus - she loved it, I thought it was ok. Basically, without giving too much away, it's a "Superman" origin story with one crucial difference - the alien baby who falls to Earth (and is raised by human parents) grows up to be a fucking psycho. It's very gory in places, my toes were curling at a couple of scenes and overall, it's a pretty entertaining movie. Oh, and they left it open-ended for a sequel.

One of the best executed (or at least most horrific) of the 'evil superman' tropes was in Alan Moore's Miracleman comic series (renamed from the UK Marvelman for copyright reasons). In issue 15 the protagonist and his allies arrive in London, where their adversary has been waiting for them for two hours. Probably the most violent comic ever up to that point (and possibly still) - though it was an earlier issue in which the main character's wife gave birth that proved more controversial.

It set a standard for the horror of such things that anyone else writing in the genre would have to be aware of it, even if they are reacting against it.

MarcusAu wrote: ↑One of the best executed (or at least most horrific) of the 'evil superman' tropes was in Alan Moore's Miracleman comic series (renamed from the UK Marvelman for copyright reasons). In issue 15 the protagonist and his allies arrive in London, where their adversary has been waiting for them for two hours. Probably the most violent comic ever up to that point (and possibly still) - though it was an earlier issue in which the main character's wife gave birth that proved more controversial.

It set a standard for the horror of such things that anyone else writing in the genre would have to be aware of it, even if they are reacting against it.

One of the first comics I ever bought was "Warrior" (UK title, think it may have been released under another name overseas) - it featured some of Moore's earliest work (including Miracleman) but I bought it mainly for "Shandor: Demonstalker" - an Eastern European monk who waged war on the underworld, was utterly without mercy and could kill anything with the slightest touch.

Even though it was fairly short-lived, Warrior managed to secure "V for vendetta" before going down the tubes. I was an avid fan of the comic (more of a magazine tbh) but don't remember much about Miracleman - I was all about monsters, aliens and flying gizzards back then.

Speaking noise-signal ratios, I just discovered I have Apophenia. Or rather, I discovered it's a thing with a name, and I'm not out of my fucking mind. Anyhoo, I hear faint songs when it's raining hard or the swamp cooler is running. I can make out the tunes and almost the lyrics. I've recorded me whistling what I hear and they aren't half bad. Except the other day when I got stuck listening to this phantom crappy young country station.

MarcusAu wrote: ↑
One of the best executed (or at least most horrific) of the 'evil superman' tropes was in Alan Moore's Miracleman comic series (renamed from the UK Marvelman for copyright reasons). In issue 15 the protagonist and his allies arrive in London, where their adversary has been waiting for them for two hours. Probably the most violent comic ever up to that point (and possibly still) - though it was an earlier issue in which the main character's wife gave birth that proved more controversial.

It set a standard for the horror of such things that anyone else writing in the genre would have to be aware of it, even if they are reacting against it.

Miracleman was great, but for me the standout in British-crazed-superheroness was Grant Morrison's Zenith series. I liked it because it had a super-powered Tory minister who was actually sort of...a good guy. Ish. Pretty daring for the time (and even now), given that anything with the remotest whiff of toryism was (and still is, really) generally regarded by the right-on crowd as total nazi evil. The final volume - Phase 4 - is some astonishingly trippy shit rounded off with a twist which is pretty lolworthy.

Tigzy wrote: ↑Miracleman was great, but for me the standout in British-crazed-superheroness was Grant Morrison's Zenith series. I liked it because it had a super-powered Tory minister who was actually sort of...a good guy. Ish. Pretty daring for the time (and even now), given that anything with the remotest whiff of toryism was (and still is, really) generally regarded by the right-on crowd as total nazi evil. The final volume - Phase 4 - is some astonishingly trippy shit rounded off with a twist which is pretty lolworthy.

Even though he's not a superhero in the truest sense, the tales of his exploits are an absolute blast, are deliciously non-pc and the entire saga (massive!) is littered with some very memorable characters and plot-lines. Of particular note, the "Time Killers" story is completely mental and introduced several awesome villains into the lore: Elfric (baby killing general of a demon army - the Cyth), Guledig - the living "Triskele" ruler of the Cyth and one of my favourite villians in all of fiction, The Lord Weird Slough Feg: a rotting and seriously insane version of "The Horned God" who refuses to die (it's complicated!).

Seriously though, if anyone hasn't read Sláine and are "into" comics, chances are you'll love the series. Having said that, you'd really need to start from the very begining - if you jumped in half-way, it'd be very, very confusing.

Even though he's not a superhero in the truest sense, the tales of his exploits are an absolute blast, are deliciously non-pc and the entire saga (massive!) is littered with some very memorable characters and plot-lines. Of particular note, the "Time Killers" story is completely mental and introduced several awesome villains into the lore: Elfric (baby killing general of a demon army - the Cyth), Guledig - the living "Triskele" ruler of the Cyth and one of my favourite villians in all of fiction, The Lord Weird Slough Feg: a rotting and seriously insane version of "The Horned God" who refuses to die (it's complicated!).

Seriously though, if anyone hasn't read Sláine and are "into" comics, chances are you'll love the series. Having said that, you'd really need to start from the very begining - if you jumped in half-way, it'd be very, very confusing.

Back in the days when Slaine could regularly upbraid his boon-companion as a 'dirty little dwarf' without controversy. Although Ukko was utterly morally reprehensible: 'Hmm. I've always fancied a nice little slave business.'

I think the 80s was the golden age of 2000 AD. With the team of Alan Grant & John Wagner having the most consistent hit record as writers- with Judge Dredd, Sam Slade: Robohunter, and Strontium Dog. All of which relied heavily on the action but with a strong component of humour. Pat Mills had several good runs too - with stuff like Robusters & ABC Warriors, Nemeis the Warlock, as well as the aforementioned Slaine. (Though you are probably going to be a bit irritated by his left bias if you read enough of his work).

Brian Talbot was writing & drawing 'Luthor Awkright' about this time. A

And there were several kids comics - the best of which were written / drawn by either Ken Reid or Leo Baxendale.

I recall seeing stuff from earlier periods in dribs & drabs too - the Trigon Empire (from Look & Learn) and the 1950s Dan Dare - both of which had excellent artwork. I always thought Robot Archie had a face to incite nightmares. (He was in the uncanny valley before it was cool).

Then there's the War comics (Battle) and the more comtemporary (Action) and the girls comics (Misty & Jinty etc) - which shared most of the same artists and writers.

All of which I would read if I had the opportunity - hell I'd check out Alley Sloper if the opportunity arose.

BoxNDox wrote: ↑It's also unclear to me how you "cancel" a series that's already made and released in its entirety, and which has no planned prequels or sequels.

And FWIW, I thought it was awesome. Highly recommended.

I must admit, I really enjoyed it.

Whilst we're on the subject - movie suggestion: Brightburn.

Just finished watching it with the missus - she loved it, I thought it was ok. Basically, without giving too much away, it's a "Superman" origin story with one crucial difference - the alien baby who falls to Earth (and is raised by human parents) grows up to be a fucking psycho. It's very gory in places, my toes were curling at a couple of scenes and overall, it's a pretty entertaining movie. Oh, and they left it open-ended for a sequel.

More generally, I have to say that my overall pessimism as to how things are going has been challenged by some recent events, like the $44 million verdict against Oberlin College. And then there's the Rehaif decision:

Talking of comics nostalgia etc. I've been perusing the extensive collections on a couple of sites lately.
Not sure how legal they are but the hell, I've been able to read issues from the 60s 70s that I've never seen.
Some of the archives overlap so if one site doesn't have a complete series sometime the other does.

Just finished watching it with the missus - she loved it, I thought it was ok. Basically, without giving too much away, it's a "Superman" origin story with one crucial difference - the alien baby who falls to Earth (and is raised by human parents) grows up to be a fucking psycho. It's very gory in places, my toes were curling at a couple of scenes and overall, it's a pretty entertaining movie. Oh, and they left it open-ended for a sequel.

One of the best executed (or at least most horrific) of the 'evil superman' tropes was in Alan Moore's Miracleman comic series (renamed from the UK Marvelman for copyright reasons). In issue 15 the protagonist and his allies arrive in London, where their adversary has been waiting for them for two hours. Probably the most violent comic ever up to that point (and possibly still) - though it was an earlier issue in which the main character's wife gave birth that proved more controversial.

It set a standard for the horror of such things that anyone else writing in the genre would have to be aware of it, even if they are reacting against it.

When I saw the trailer for Brightburn... I thought of Rick Veitch's Maximortal comic.

In that telling of the Superman story-- a simple farm couple finds a muscle-bound alien baby-- who proceeds to decapitate townsfolk & torture his adopted parents.

Eventually, rather than developing nukes, the US govt puts the little shit in a bomb casing-- and drops him on Japan.

As I recall, a lot of Rich Veitch's work is based on his dream-diary.
He's very willing to present broken half-coherent imagery-- in a deadpan this-is-real style.

Service Dog wrote: ↑
When I saw the trailer for Brightburn... I thought of Rick Veitch's Maximortal comic.

Some of the ingredients are there - though the Maximortal comes across as an amoral rather than an immoral or evil superman.

Veitch's stuff is very trippy - so it doesn't quite have the straight forward narrative that's necessary for a movie. If he's basing it on his dream diary - it would make sense that uses the same logic.

None of which means I didn't enjoy it - but it seems very much it's own thing.

Your mind is obviously working in (different) strange and unusual ways than mine if this is what the movie reminded you of.

I only saw the trailer-- half-saw it, as the ad was being forced-on me every-few-minutes, interrupting something I was watching on hulu.
I tried to mute it & ignore it-- but some vague impression of it seeped-thru.

Seems to have backfired somewhat after the his nosey concerned neighbours were revealed to be a rich daddy's little 'left wing activist' princess and her soy boy playwright hubby who just happen to have the guardian editors desk on speed dial.

Seems to have backfired somewhat after the his nosey concerned neighbours were revealed to be a rich daddy's little 'left wing activist' princess and her soy boy playwright hubby who just happen to have the guardian editors desk on speed dial.

In January of 2018, in a Grade One class at Devonshire Community Public School, part of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board network, six-year-old N watched a YouTube video as part of her teacher’s lesson plan on gender.

The video was entitled, “He, She and They?!?—Gender: Queer Kid Stuff #2.” The video contained statements such as, “some people aren’t boys or girls,” and that there are people who do not “feel like a ‘she’ or a ‘he,’” and therefore might not have a gender. The young teacher, continued to teach gender theory throughout the semester.... {She] told the children that “there is no such thing as girls and boys,” and “girls are not real and boys are not real.”

By mid-March, N’s parents could see the lessons were having an impact on their daughter, as she began spontaneously and repeatedly asking them why her identity as a girl was “not real.” She asked if she could “go to a doctor” about the fact that she was a girl. She said she was “not sure if she wanted to be a mommy.”

In January of 2018, in a Grade One class at Devonshire Community Public School, part of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board network, six-year-old N watched a YouTube video as part of her teacher’s lesson plan on gender.

The video was entitled, “He, She and They?!?—Gender: Queer Kid Stuff #2.” The video contained statements such as, “some people aren’t boys or girls,” and that there are people who do not “feel like a ‘she’ or a ‘he,’” and therefore might not have a gender. The young teacher, continued to teach gender theory throughout the semester.... {She] told the children that “there is no such thing as girls and boys,” and “girls are not real and boys are not real.”

By mid-March, N’s parents could see the lessons were having an impact on their daughter, as she began spontaneously and repeatedly asking them why her identity as a girl was “not real.” She asked if she could “go to a doctor” about the fact that she was a girl. She said she was “not sure if she wanted to be a mommy.”

So, I have my first DRE tomorrow, from a rather attractive nurse practitioner. She told me when recommending I have one (I'm 60 next year) that she has a good, long strong finger. Here's hoping I manage not to do a Dr Richard C. Carrier, PhD when she presses the button.

Lsuoma wrote: ↑
So, I have my first DRE tomorrow, from a rather attractive nurse practitioner. She told me when recommending I have one (I'm 60 next year) that she has a good, long strong finger. Here's hoping I manage not to do a Dr Richard C. Carrier, PhD when she presses the button.

She may just want to put her finger in your butt, since most relevant medical organizations don’t recommend routine DREs anymore. Not in the US anyway. YMMV

Lsuoma wrote: ↑So, I have my first DRE tomorrow, from a rather attractive nurse practitioner. She told me when recommending I have one (I'm 60 next year) that she has a good, long strong finger. Here's hoping I manage not to do a Dr Richard C. Carrier, PhD when she presses the button.

Not sure if I've shared this before...

I was struck down by crippling abdominal pain and my innards completely packed in. I was going for 6-7 days without having a movement, was drenched with sweat 24/7 and was convinced the grim reaper was closing in. Anyhoo, after a month of this bullshit, I relented and suffered the indignity of going to hospital - long story short, I had picked up something nasty in Thailand (pun setup #256) which had caused diverticulitis-like signs and symptoms. Took two weeks of pills, weapons-grade laxatives and modified diet to get me lunches moving again.

Anyhoo, during the first 24 hours in the germ factory, I was "seen" by a specialist - a rather meaty and no-nonsense middle-aged woman in a designer business suit with a lab coat over the top. She was pretty fine looking and was wearing the most subtle but arousing perfume I'd ever encountered. Yes, you can see it coming (pun setup #162), part of her initial checks involved her shoving her finger up my crimper!

Now, as you'll be well aware, I'm not the most subtle of chaps and have the same sense of humour as a rabid caveman. As she was digging around in my bomb-bay, I asked her how many of my Army mates I could invite to our wedding? She paused with her investigation(s) and asked me what I was talking about? With what I thought was a cheeky/winning grin, I told her I assumed we were now engaged because she had my ring on her finger.

Seriously, no sense of humour these people.

To compound matters, she told me that I might have a "spasticated colon" (I've got no idea but it sounds bloody awful!) and when I asked if that meant having a wheel chair shoved up my arse, she went fucking mental.

Miserable cow, the face she pulled, you'd think it was her arse that had packed up.

Anyhoo, hope everything goes OK and you don't "gunge" the nurse. At the very least, I hope your nurse is open to a bit of mild banter to lighten the mood.

I think if I had a terminal illness or was just suicidal, I’d go to the DR, stay at a fine resort and drain the mini bar, so my family could join in on the enormous payout that’s coming down the pike. I see another guy died mysteriously after drinking there. Who in their right mind would drink anything questionable in the DR right now?

Lsuoma wrote: ↑So, I have my first DRE tomorrow, from a rather attractive nurse practitioner. She told me when recommending I have one (I'm 60 next year) that she has a good, long strong finger. Here's hoping I manage not to do a Dr Richard C. Carrier, PhD when she presses the button.

Not sure if I've shared this before...

I was struck down by crippling abdominal pain and my innards completely packed in. I was going for 6-7 days without having a movement, was drenched with sweat 24/7 and was convinced the grim reaper was closing in. Anyhoo, after a month of this bullshit, I relented and suffered the indignity of going to hospital - long story short, I had picked up something nasty in Thailand (pun setup #256) which had caused diverticulitis-like signs and symptoms. Took two weeks of pills, weapons-grade laxatives and modified diet to get me lunches moving again.

Anyhoo, during the first 24 hours in the germ factory, I was "seen" by a specialist - a rather meaty and no-nonsense middle-aged woman in a designer business suit with a lab coat over the top. She was pretty fine looking and was wearing the most subtle but arousing perfume I'd ever encountered. Yes, you can see it coming (pun setup #162), part of her initial checks involved her shoving her finger up my crimper!

Now, as you'll be well aware, I'm not the most subtle of chaps and have the same sense of humour as a rabid caveman. As she was digging around in my bomb-bay, I asked her how many of my Army mates I could invite to our wedding? She paused with her investigation(s) and asked me what I was talking about? With what I thought was a cheeky/winning grin, I told her I assumed we were now engaged because she had my ring on her finger.

Seriously, no sense of humour these people.

To compound matters, she told me that I might have a "spasticated colon" (I've got no idea but it sounds bloody awful!) and when I asked if that meant having a wheel chair shoved up my arse, she went fucking mental.

Miserable cow, the face she pulled, you'd think it was her arse that had packed up.

Anyhoo, hope everything goes OK and you don't "gunge" the nurse. At the very least, I hope your nurse is open to a bit of mild banter to lighten the mood.

Tigzy wrote: ↑Miracleman was great, but for me the standout in British-crazed-superheroness was Grant Morrison's Zenith series. I liked it because it had a super-powered Tory minister who was actually sort of...a good guy. Ish. Pretty daring for the time (and even now), given that anything with the remotest whiff of toryism was (and still is, really) generally regarded by the right-on crowd as total nazi evil. The final volume - Phase 4 - is some astonishingly trippy shit rounded off with a twist which is pretty lolworthy.

Even though he's not a superhero in the truest sense, the tales of his exploits are an absolute blast, are deliciously non-pc and the entire saga (massive!) is littered with some very memorable characters and plot-lines. Of particular note, the "Time Killers" story is completely mental and introduced several awesome villains into the lore: Elfric (baby killing general of a demon army - the Cyth), Guledig - the living "Triskele" ruler of the Cyth and one of my favourite villians in all of fiction, The Lord Weird Slough Feg: a rotting and seriously insane version of "The Horned God" who refuses to die (it's complicated!).

Seriously though, if anyone hasn't read Sláine and are "into" comics, chances are you'll love the series. Having said that, you'd really need to start from the very begining - if you jumped in half-way, it'd be very, very confusing.

Fuck me, Time Killers was bloody awesome. Good memories, man. Zenith was great too, as was Halo Jones.

Tigzy wrote: ↑Miracleman was great, but for me the standout in British-crazed-superheroness was Grant Morrison's Zenith series. I liked it because it had a super-powered Tory minister who was actually sort of...a good guy. Ish. Pretty daring for the time (and even now), given that anything with the remotest whiff of toryism was (and still is, really) generally regarded by the right-on crowd as total nazi evil. The final volume - Phase 4 - is some astonishingly trippy shit rounded off with a twist which is pretty lolworthy.

Even though he's not a superhero in the truest sense, the tales of his exploits are an absolute blast, are deliciously non-pc and the entire saga (massive!) is littered with some very memorable characters and plot-lines. Of particular note, the "Time Killers" story is completely
...
Seriously though, if anyone hasn't read Sláine and are "into" comics, chances are you'll love the series. Having said that, you'd really need to start from the very begining - if you jumped in half-way, it'd be very, very confusing.

Obby Oss! Slaine was the absolute tits. The writers really paid attention to Celtic mythology and towards some of the loopier theories regarding neolithic sacred sites, before smushing it all together into a gloriously badass set of stories.

Nemesis the Warlock had its moments also, although it could get a bit preachy.